Getting Better All the Time: The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper” Reissued for Its 50th Anniversary

“It was twenty years ago today
Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play
They’ve been going in and out of style
But they’re guaranteed to raise a smile
So may I introduce to you
The act you’ve known for all these years
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band!”

With that verse, The Beatles quite honestly changed popular music. Their eighth studio album, and the first since their final concert tour, ushered in a sea change of rock and roll–a focus on the long-playing album over singles as focal artistic point, an introduction of diverse and progressive influences and technical innovation into the creation of said album, and a critical mainstreaming of rock and roll as a genre.

Now, almost 50 years after its debut, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band–the first rock album to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, enshrined in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry and the first on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time–is getting bigger and, maybe, a little better. (Can’t get no worse!)

Announced today after weeks of speculation, a multi-format Sgt. Pepper release is planned for May 26, the closest Friday before the original release date of June 1. These formats include:

1CD: Even if you know the album forwards and backwards–whether from its original release, its 1987 CD debut or its place in The Fab Four’s 2009 remastering campaign–this new disc presents Pepper in a whole new way. Giles Martin, son of The Beatles’ late producer George, and Sam Okell have gone back to the original master tapes to present a new stereo remix of the album. Packaging includes a new set of liner notes and a replica of the cut-outs insert that came with the original album.

2CD: This handsome set for the average consumer will include the stereo remix alongside a bonus disc of previously unreleased session takes plus new stereo mixes of double A-side single “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane,” intended for the album but released four months before at the behest of EMI. Booklet and cut-outs also included!

Super deluxe edition: For the real Beatlemaniacs, this deluxe box will include two discs of outtakes and bonus material, “many previously unheard and unreleased” (a total of 100 minutes of extra material in all). It will also feature an expanded mono album with six bonus tracks, including a “lost” version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Finally, DVD/Blu-ray content offers a restored version of The Making of Sgt. Pepper, a 1992 television documentary, promo video clips and high resolution stereo and 5.1 surround mixes. A 144-page book includes rare photos, handwritten lyrics, track-by-track detail and more. Finally, two replica posters and a full-size cut-outs insert will round out the set.

2LP: This expanded vinyl set features the same material as the 2CD set on 180-gram double vinyl.

The return of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band looks to be a welcome one for longtime fans, with pre-orders surging before concrete details were even made public. Now that you’re in the know, check out the track list and pre-order your preferred version!

Mike Duquette

Michael Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he discovered there was more than one version of John Williams' soundtrack to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his intended profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small, from vintage soul to stirring film scores. His passion for reissues turned into a profession in 2014 with co-producing credits on two best-selling vinyl singles for Sony's Legacy Recordings: a 30th anniversary "ecto-green" pressing of Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" and a celebratory pressing of Wham!'s "Last Christmas" on red and green vinyl.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with an ever-expanding collection of box sets and vinyl.

Comments

C’Mon Guys it IS SGT. Pepper ! Yes I love Rubber Soul , Revolver, The White Album etc. but this album epitomizes the psychedelic scene of the Summer of Love of 1967. It was way ahead of it’s time. The cover art, their costumes, the vibe and most of all the music .Pepper, With A Little Help , Fixing A Hole, Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite, Within You, Without You , and A Day In The Life. I cannot wait to hear the Surround Sound mixes of this album .

Best ever? Eh, hard to say. Two or maybe three other Beatles albums can stake a claim to that title.

Is this release overkill? Nah… I don’t feel like I need it, but I am curious to hear the new mix. Ringo apparently loved that the drums are more prominent.

A Let It Be dleuxe, with true “stripped” verison (of Spector’s heavy hand) of the Let It Be album, with more outtakes and performances (Including the rooftop concert), coupled with a blu-ray of the movie would be welcome.

I have to agree with Murray. Pepper is the only Beatles album that I am truly sick of, and the only one in my collection that I never play anymore. Speaking only for myself, it is tired and overrated. Give me Revolver, Abbey Road and yes, Let It Be any day over Sgt. Pepper. Needless to say, I won’t be buying this set. On a side note, I am also sick of Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys.

Agree. I have so many editions of Pet Sounds that it’s not funny, but it’s probably one of my least favourite Beach Boys albums (go figure). I hate to bring up the argument again, but I’m sure SMiLE would have blown away Pepper if it had been released back then.

Kinda douchey. I remember seeing the Electric Light Orchestra on either The Midnight Special or Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert when I was a kid and I was so blown away. I immediately loved that group and I especially loved the strings. Nothing Lynne puts out without that original sound interests me. Zoom was a huge disappointment for me. Did he forget what the “O” in ELO stood for?

This is incredible! Just as the Beatles were late to the remastering of their albums, they are the last big group (the biggest of them all actually) to do a deluxe box set dedicated to one of their albums. Of course, its a logical place to start with their most famous album and it being the 50th Anniversary. I never buy these massive box sets (for Macca’s reissue campaign, for example, I usually just purchase the 2CD sets, I don’t need the book or DVD’s). However, this will be the exception. I will be picking this up for sure.

I am happy that they did not waste a disc and include the original stereo mix. Every Beatles fan will already have that. Looking forward to hearing the new stereo mix. I heard that Ringo likes it because the drums are louder.

I already have the mono mix from the Beatles mono box set but at least in this set the last four mono tracks appended to that disc are things I don’t have.

Of course, the major highlight will be the two sessions discs.

I am hoping that this will be the start of deluxe album reissues. Can you imagine what the White Album and Get Back sessions could be like?!

I go with Shaun and Joe. I am so anxious to hear this new take on such an iconic album, warts, outtakes and all. I am equally as excited to see what they’ve done with the visual package. From one who lived the moments of the album’s original release, I tell you that the packaging was an artistic achievement that rocked the art world in addition to the music community. Maybe hard to understand, but the Beatles were the movers and shakers of POP CULTURE in the 1960s. Not just the musical sounds, which were always new and ground-breaking, but in art, fashion, social awareness and our everyday lives. They were a BIG deal! So, I say allow Capitol/EMI/Universal to let their freak flag fly with this over the top release. In June of 1967, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band was truly over the top! Let it be so again.

I don’t get the big deal with Sgt peppers. It’s far too overrated (bar “a day in the life”). For me, the two albums released either side , Revolver and the White Album were far superior. (Magical mystery wasn’t really an album really was it) In my opinion, Revolver & Abbey Road are the two best Beatles albums.

I agree that on a musical level and song for song, I prefer Rubber Soul, Revolver, and the White Album. However, if you put it into context (in 1967), no other LP up until that time captured its time perfectly, presented in a whole package such as that. Whether it was intentional or not, I also find it cool that we went from the Black and White look of Revolver to the colorful world of Sgt Pepper’s. Very symbolic of the time and where the decade/future was heading in the country and culture.

“Pepper” isn’t my favorite Beatles album, but it’s not bad either. I might be more excited for a “Revolver” or “White Album” box, but we don’t have those and there’s little evidence we ever will. Whether or not it’s your favorite Beatles album, “Pepper” was a cultural milestone, and if only one Beatles LP gets the super deluxe treatment, “Pepper” is deserving. (If I wanted to be optimistic, I’d speculate that the “Pepper” set is a trial balloon for possible future releases, and if it does well, other albums may follow. But I have nothing to back that up but blind, uncorroborated hope.)

We can quibble about what should or shouldn’t have been included in the box. They could have fit the audio content onto three CDs instead of four by putting the mono mix with the new stereo mix, and adding the bonus mono mixes to the “Sessions” discs. But who saw this coming? A 4CD plus video and hi-res expanded album is unprecedented in the Beatles catalog. I applaud the news and I’m very excited to listen to the new album.

As a lover of high resolution surround sound, I am disappointed that I will have to buy the expensive deluxe edition to hear the 5.1 mix. Why can’t they just release the surround mix on one SACD? I love The Beatles, but don’t really care about outtakes. I care about the original album and hearing it in high resolution. In short, as of now, I will not be buying the deluxe set due to price considerations.

One thing has not yet been clarified. When those outtakes previously released on “The Beatles Anthology 2” reappear in the new 6-disc set, will they be new Giles Martin remixes or the same old Geoff Emerick mixes?

A lot of the “Pepper” outtakes on “Anthology 2” were not straight session tapes – they were pieced together, for instance adding a vocal track to a backing track that originally had no vocals. “Mr. Kite” had the effects track flown in at the end; “A Day in the Life” is a hybrid of take 2 and a rough mix of take 4. Some fans call these versions “Frankensteined” or “outfakes.” I could certainly be wrong, but it appears that the new “Pepper” release will include complete, un-tampered-with session takes. If that’s the case, then there won’t be very much overlap with “Anthology 2.”

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